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Background

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 and the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers announced at a lakefront Earth Day ceremony
that a Waukegan, Ill., revitalization project has been selected
as an environmental justice demonstration project.

The Waukegan Cleanup and Revitalization project is one of 15 projects
selected nationwide for the program. Selection for this project
officially designates Waukegan as an environmental justice community
which provides national recognition and exposure, greater access
to resources and status as a model for future projects.

Using 2000 census data, the city of Waukegan qualifies as an environmental
justice community due to the citys high percentage of low-income
residents and its high percentage of minority residents. The census
showed that Waukegans population is 44.8 percent Hispanic
and 19.2 percent African-American. Waukegan has the highest increase
in poverty rates in Lake County, rising to 13.9 percent in 1999
from 9.5 percent in 1989.

Project partners are the United Latino Coalition of Lake County,
the city of Waukegan, the Waukegan Harbor Citizens Advisory Group,
EPA and the Corps of Engineers. They have been working to ensure
that all Waukegan communities can participate and share in the
benefits of the revitalization process.